San Francisco · Anthropic · OpenAI · Sam Altman · xAI · ChatGPT · Wired
Flush With Cash From OpenAI, Opal Is Making an AI-Powered Audio Gadget
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A small San Francisco startup known for making well-appointed, beautifully designed webcams is now vying to become the AI hardware company of the moment.
Key facts
- Some details about the investment were first reported in 2024, but the deal was closed in the first quarter of 2025
- The transition was possible thanks to a $40 million Series B funding round from OpenAI
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was an early customer and fan of Opal's original C1 webcam, so much so that his team visited Opal's offices in 2022 to ask whether OpenAI's Whisper voice transcription model
- A small San Francisco startup known for making well-appointed, beautifully designed webcams is now vying to become the AI hardware company of the moment
Summary
Opal Camera is rebranding to Opal Electronics and will expand its product portfolio beyond webcams to a broad range of consumer devices, some of which will be AI-focused. The transition was possible thanks to a $40 million Series B funding round from OpenAI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was an early customer and fan of Opal's original C1 webcam, so much so that his team visited Opal's offices in 2022 to ask whether OpenAI's Whisper voice transcription model could run locally on Opal cameras for live subtitles on Zoom. Since then, Opal has been working on an AI-powered audio product for the last few years.